American Fortune Life

Chapter 1209: Eve of the storm

September 14, 2008, 8 AM US Sunday! Tired like dogs, Wall Street bankers are back in the Federal Reserve Building in New York!

When Andy received the call, he was still sleeping with Ivana. In order not to be deliberately targeted in the next feast, he had no choice but to get up from the gentle village and rush to the Federal Reserve Building.

When he came to the meeting room, the meeting started half an hour long ago. This meeting was nothing else, but the big family!

Barclays plans to acquire Lehman, but only lacks $ 33 billion in non-performing asset financing. Please raise more than a dozen giants in the list!

"The plan to acquire Lehman has been passed on Barclays' board of directors, and now it only takes five hours for the UK Financial Services Authority to approve it."

Andy looked at Paulson with a faint smile on his face, Lehman Ceo Fuld, who seemed a bit relieved, and the somber expression on the faces of the predators who were forced to raise funds.

"So what about the US government or the Federal Reserve's guarantee pledges made by Barclays, would you agree?"

Andy smiled slightly, leaning lazily on the boss chair, asked abruptly, and looked at Paulson and Geithner in the chief position.

With his voice falling, there was still a little whispered silence in the conference room, and Fuld looked at Paulson and Geithner with a pleading look, and the others sank into the water. To two people.

"The Federal Reserve will not give Lehman Brothers bailout and financial protection!" Geithner made a clear expression without expression.

Paulson's eyes narrowed, and he looked around indifferently for a week. He ignored the hope of Fuld and said coldly, "I still say that, don't expect the government to save you. The protagonist of the problem is You! Let's meet up. "

After speaking, he got up with Geithner and left the meeting room. The remaining group of predators also looked at each other with a look of disappointed eyes, and a numb expression of Fuld stood up and left.

Andy walked past Fuld with no expression, reached out and patted his shoulder, and said in a clear voice: "Think of other methods, no guarantee, don't give too much hope to the British!"

"They need to find a scapegoat!" Fuld didn't look back or get up, but he muttered a few hoarse words, then stopped speaking, his elbows supported on the conference table, his hands crossed to cover his face. .

Andy shook his head, took Ar from the conference room, left the Fed building without stopping, and sat in the car. Andy said to Kenny, "Go to the Lehman headquarters building!"

Alvitrie glanced at the big boss a little by surprise, but soon thought of something, couldn't help but smile, took out a folder from his briefcase and handed it to Andy, "Boss, this is a think tank A list of Lehman's high-quality assets compiled by the group, and our optional goals. "

Andy nodded slightly, took the folder open and looked at it, and quickly looked down. The contents listed in the information made his expression more condensed.

As Lehman's business capabilities are widely recognized, the company has a customer base that includes many world-renowned companies, such as Alcatel, AOL, Time Warner, ibm, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, nec, Pepsi, Shell Oil, Sumitomo Bank, Wal-Mart. . . Wait for two or three hundred international multinational companies and the world's zxing large enterprises.

To be honest, Lehman Brothers' leadership in the business areas it operates in is well known and was once one of the world's most powerful stock and bond underwriters and dealers.

At the same time, the company also serves as an important financial advisor to many multinational corporations and governments around the world, and has many of the industry's best-qualified employees at international levels.

"Lehman's North American core business, as well as the stock underwriting business and M & A consulting business, should be staring at a lot of people, and I am afraid there will be many competitors at that time!"

Andy closed the folder, frowned, and said with some worries that although what he said was just a think tank listing two goals for the asset acquisition list for him, he was the least sure that he could easily annex it, staring after all There is too much Lehman power.

"Yes, according to our analysis, there are two people who are most eager to get this part of the business. One is Barclays Bank of the United Kingdom and the other is Nomura Securities. If we want to successfully acquire this part of the assets, we can only start Strong! "

Andy glanced at Al with a grim expression and nodded solemnly, then lowered the window, pointed to the Lehman headquarters building on the side of the road and asked, "745 Seventh Avenue, 32 floors high. Covering approximately 1 million square feet, it was purchased from Morgan Stanley in 2001 for approximately $ 700 million.

Even at the current real estate market, conservative estimates are at the price of $ 1,000 per square foot. Al, you said that I bought the Lehman headquarters, the main business in North America and Europe, and the two data centers. Fuld was betrayed, resentful, and Would you agree with my request under the mood of destruction? "

Al pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and groaned and replied: "That requires the boss to add another fire to completely detonate the negative emotions in Fuld's heart. In order to get revenge when he can't see the slightest future, He might agree. "

"Hehe, I know Lehman is getting up and down, and I also hope that the help of Xiaofei shoes, but they are not clear, now Paulson has got the power he wants, and the influence of Xiaofei shoes on him has become It's okay, do you believe that even if Xiao Fei Xie now orders Paulson to rescue Lehman, Paulson will refuse for various reasons. "

Andy raised the window and said with a sneer, but Alvitre kept silent about it.

Andy's words are not wrong at all. Now the influence of Xiaofei shoes has been reduced to the lowest point. After all, in the election year, the Xiaofei shoes that are about to leave the White House are also thinking about smooth transition, stabilize the mess, and then throw it to the next. As long as the US economy does not collapse in his tenure.

At about 1 pm New York time, Geithner received a call from Geithner but received McCarthy, the chairman of the UK's highest financial regulatory authority, the Financial Services Authority.

"We are not sure if Barclays has enough capital to pay for Lehman's risk. Barclays Bank is not allowed by law to support Lehman's transaction before the shareholders' meeting vote ... So, good luck." McCarthy typical The "Euphemism of the British" rejected the merger.

With a somber look, Geithner hung up the phone and came to Paulson's temporary office in the Federal Reserve Building. He pushed Paul to the door and said, "We're done!"

. . . . . .

"Barclays has given up, Lehman has no buyers. We can only accept reality and do our best. The British have played us." Paulson faced all the ceo and financial predators in the conference room, including Andy. They blurted out without thinking, with anger and frustration on their faces that could hardly be discerned.

"We have to unite to deal with this situation ..."

Andy, who has been turning the signature pen in his hand, is not in the mood to listen to Paulson's speech. His eyes glanced over the faces of the conference room. Except for Fuld who was pale and numb, none of the people present seemed to be right The bad news was shocked.

Andy even saw a moment of relief from them at that moment, because they no longer needed to spend billions of dollars to participate in an uncertain rescue operation. But after returning to God, they became agitated.

Soon, the meeting room became out of control and became a mess, and they all stood up and expressed their opinions, pointing to the simple question. ‘How do you prepare for the market after Monday ’s opening? ’

"... an emergency trading session must be set up so that everyone can liquidate Lehman-related assets!"

Goldman Ceo looked somber and stood there shouting with no worries, letting the messy conference room be quiet for a while. Paulson did not stop, but nodded to the proposal, no one paid attention to the redness and shiver Fuld, even if his eyes could almost burst out fire.

"Papa--"

Andy was expressionless, banging on the table of the conference table with a marker pen continuously. When everyone focused his eyes, Andy stood up sternly, adjusted his suit jacket, looked around for a week, his voice was extremely indifferent, Definitely said.

"The collapse of Lehman is the beginning of the disaster! The collapse of a large financial institution will trigger a nation-wide chain reaction-this is far beyond our control. It is conceivable that credit will be tightened and companies in short supply will lay off staff , Foreclosure rates will rise at an unprecedented rate: millions of Americans will lose their livelihoods and homes. We need many, many years to climb out of such a quagmire ... "

Andy didn't care that his words turned the warm atmosphere in the meeting room into dead silence. As soon as the voice fell, he turned and walked outward. The five think tank members led by Al followed quickly and left, leaving a room. Financial predators who looked at each other and at the same time had complicated expressions.